A time for change? Developing legal education in Uganda

The Law Development Centre (LDC) in Uganda was given statutory authority for the training of lawyers in 1970 by virtue of the Law Development Centre Act. Since then, LDC has been Uganda’s sole provider of professional legal education.

In 2012, NUFFIC, the Dutch organisation for international cooperation in higher education, announced that it would provide funding to assist LDC develop its legal education practises. The tender process closed in October 2012 and was won by a joint bid between Northumbria University, based in Newcastle upon Tyne in England and the Center for International Legal Cooperation, based in The Hague, the Netherlands.

This paper will look at the 4 year project, which started in December 2012 and examine: the landscape of legal education in Uganda and the criticisms it faces; the possible areas and processes to be employed for both curriculum and resource change and development at LDC; and outline the plan for the project’s duration.